Saturday, October 31, 2009

Hello everbloody, an' welcome to Halloween Countdown Finale! An' what a finale it is!! This is first flick directed by multi-talent Tom McLoughlin (not Tom Laughlin of BILLY JACK fame). Tom went on to direct FRIDAY THE 13th part VI, FREDDY'S NIGHTMARES and FRIDAY THE 13th TV series and then various TV show from then on.

Music by Bob Summers, who start career in 1967 with IT'S A BIKINI WORLD, then THE AMAZING WORLD OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENA, BEYOND AND BACK, CHARLIE AND THE TALKING BUZZARD, BEYOND DEATH'S DOOR, EARTHBOUND, THE BOOGENS, THE ANNIHILATORS, ELIMINATORS, BODY COUNT and ROCK-A-DIE BABY to name a few...

Lil' pet gnat Piff draw longest straw so he get to press big old red 'GO' button for big finale today, an' he all happy, so's, hit it Piff!.. doodley doot de doo... NIGHT IN THE MASOLEUM!

Boy, county worker gonna be getting nice fat bonus overtime check in upcoming pay cycle! Flick have east coast feel but made in LA!

Something go terribly wrong at Sewing Club!! Err, correction... Psychic Club! Six gurl and one crazy psychic nutjob, Raymar, all die at scene!.. What a way to go!!

Friday, October 30, 2009

I'm wrapping up my part of this Halloween Countdown with what I feel is one of the indiest of the indie movies, "The Milpitas Monster" aka "The Mutant Beast"! What started out as a high school project somehow turned into a classic example of D.I.Y. film making!!

"The Mutant Beast" has many unintentional things in common with our own film, "The Creep," but that's what happens when you film in a small town, and give some of it's residents a chance to make a movie!! That's just the nature of this beast!!!

The stars of both films are Trash Cans!!!

The main characters in both films smell like garbage!!

There's lots of local colour! (Except "The Creep" was in Black & White!)

And they both have a scene where a kid's sitting in a car reading an issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine!!

But that's about where the comparisons end because "The Milpitas Monster" was able to secure some club/bar interior shots and a rockin' band! The pretty dang cool music was written by Robert R. Berry Jr. (too bad the sound is so muddy and warbly in spots, but it just kind of adds to the overall effect!)......Some of the grungiest rock we've heard since "Driller Killer!"

They had the added bonus of a carnival to use as a backdrop, and also, they came up with a pretty damn good monster!!

I'm going to go out on a electrical high wire, and say I think Toho might have even approved!!

Check out this shot!! It's beautiful, and would make a killer oil on black velvet painting!!!

If you go rummaging through the credits, you've not going to find very many names who ever did anything in the movies again, but one major exception, was the fellow who got credit for the special effects, Ben Burtt! Ben went on to do a number of things, including getting the credit for original sound effects (Droids and all) in the Star Wars movies, and the voice of Wall-E. and E.T. and also the sound designer on all the Indiana Jones movies!! I guess that pretty much makes up for everybody else!!

I think they actually dumped Priscilla House unceremoniously from about half way up that tower, as a very real effect, by the look of things!!

All the big cheeses in Milpitas have to figger out how to deal with the big stank, so they call the authority, the only man who knows anything about crap like this....

And, it's none other than Bob Wilkins and his signature stogie, the local Bay area horror icon and "Creature Features" TV host. (Unfortunately, Bob just passed away in January of this year.)

Bob tells them to use the "Odorola" and that's pretty much all it takes to wrap this stinker up!!!

Final credits roll to expose the names of practically every proud business and organization in town!!

DWRAYGER DUNGEON PRESENTS: The Monster Movie Music Manifesto

Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Spy, Super-Hero, JD, Thriller and Noir films, that's what we like, and a recurring theme in a lot of those kinds of movies has always been music! There were rockin' clubs and cafes with cool jukeboxes, teen poolside parties with local bands, sometimes it was a seedy bar with a sleazy torch singer, a beatnik coffeehouse, maybe dancing somewhere in outer space, or some weird tribal ceremony on a cool secluded island with giant monsters running around, and you could count on it that a lot of the time there was smoking and drinking going on. It was a fun time!! A lot of movies also had quirky, swingin', jazzy or rockin' themes or credits, or maybe just some wild Psychotronic elements! We started with the music from 50's & 60's Monster Movies, but we later morphed into the new, bigger and better, Rock and Soul, 70's brevity, 80's maybes, 1940's Gorilla and Bela site from Hell! So, sit down, and take a load off, pour yourself a cool one, and order up something hot and greasy, because we have a lot of tasty tidbits on the menu, way outside the realm of good taste! If any of the postings just happen to step on anybody's toes, let us know & we will remove them immediately, if not sooner!! We recognize all formal copyrights, and do this solely to support and promote the films featured! This forum is only being presented in a critical and scholarly critique, and should not be construed as anything else. It's just all for Fun & Historical Education in an effort to keep bad taste alive forever!!! If the words and pictures pique your interest, then please go out & buy, or rent the movies, wherever you can find them! All soundclips are approximately two minutes long, or just enough to give you a feel for the movie! When we post a sound clip, it will only stay up 30 days or less! These days, after getting hassled time and time again, we don't even do soundclips much anymore!!

Here are some good places to start your search for hard to find cult films on the internet:

TRASH PALACE!

CULT ACTION!!

When it comes to movies, the name of this site speaks for itself!

1980's CASSETTE CULTURE

Hear What You Missed The First Go Round!

BSC MUSIC

If you would like to hear more amazing music from composers like Peter Thomas and Martin Böttcher, then do yourself a favor and check out BSC Music! There Are Still Places In The World To Buy Cool Music!